Hellu people! How have you been? As the second wave of this monstrous virus has crippled us with a deep sense of rage, anxiety and hopelessness and left us with yet another lockdown (easing in a few cities), I thought I’ll put up something that I partook in in January’21, totally out of my comfort zone- A trek to Dayara Bugyal, a lush meadow trail in Uttarakhand with a group of strangers ☺. I hope everyone can experience this at least once in a lifetime. No comments for people who despise trekking and camping in general though 😂. I’ve put a few tips and the system of washing our utensils and using the bio-toilets at the end.
Initial Days: Before the Trek
As I sit down to type this, swiping through the images to get a sense of how to put my feelings into words, I go back to the days when I was super indecisive, thinking about whether to go or not to go on this trek. Will I be able to do it? Will it be an overrated experience? Will I get along with my group of other strangers from different parts of the country? Is it worth it (If we aren’t a little broke with our mental health in shambles, are we even Gen Z? 😗)?
I went through Indiahikes, an organisation which hosts a lot of treks with trained personal, quality equipment and great arrangement. More on that soon! I went through all of their FAQs and videos religiously. Ain’t nobody wants to be stuck at 11000+ feet in knee deep snow or be bogged down with excessive trekking gear or look for a raincoat amidst a heavy snowfall, pulling out everything just cause they didn’t know how to stow their stuff properly!!
After talking to other people, getting somewhat excited, thinking it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, I finally signed up for it! I was gonna go trekking on the Himalayan mountains (well a very small part of it technically)! And thank goddess I did because 2021 was about to get much worse and this was a trip I was going to be very thankful for.
Soon after signing up, I started receiving a flurry of emails: details about the trek, the itinerary, the kind of gear to buy or rent and how to pack it, what to do for fitness and the org’s ‘Green Trails’ initiative. All of this is available on their website too :).
Lets get this party on the road!
The Trek
Dayara is a great trek for beginners and has some stunning views of the towering Mt. Bandarpoonch and Black Peak with panorama-esque views of other mountains in the Himalayan range: Mt Srikanth, Draupadi Ka Danda and Mt Jaunli. We were told it has some virgin trails, totally untouched by other travellers, where one could find some unique fauna. Since I wanted to experience snow, I decided to go in January, where the trails starts off with grassy lands and suddenly you are in snowy clearings, interspersed with grass. Gotta watch your step in the snow though; you never know in which hole you might put your foot down in.
I started my year travelling from Delhi to Dehradun cause that’s from where we were supposed to catch our ride to Raithal, our base camp. I thought I would be travelling the whole year as I’d set out on 1st Jan’21. Boy was I in for a rude shock :3.
Dehradun to Raithal seemed to be an eventful ride as we waited for 45 minutes on the side of a narrow mountainous road for eggs. YES EGGS! The eggs were supposed to be transported in our ride but were switched by mistake to some other car. We moved in the direction of Gangotri, with breathtaking views of the rolling mountains and the omnipresent river Ganga, somewhat gently lapping over rocks in Uttarkashi, where we stopped for a quick lunch. Like the nerd I’m, I listened to an audiobook most of the way and picked up A Little Life in between (review here!).
Fast forward to reaching Raithal, we settled in a Garwal Mandal Vikas Nigam guest house (Govt. of Uttarakhand’s), with 4 of us girls sharing a room, freshened up a bit and went down for a crash course on what to expect on the trail including the dos and don’ts (don’t hide that bottle of Old Monk in your bag 😭), accompanied with some hot tea (nothing tastes better than hot tea in the ever present coldness of the mountains, with a view of snowy peaks) and popcorn followed by a filling dinner. We slept in sleeping bags that night, to acclimatize to it and also to beat the cold which was slowly seeping into the bones. Also, going to the washroom after getting tucked into a sleeping bag isn’t ideal so be prepared 👀.
Trek: Day 1
The next morning, a few health checks were conducted and after a quick breakfast (I’d missed good coffee for over 24 hours), we were told how to tie up our trekking shoes (I’m using this trick even with my sports shoes 😭) so the laces don’t come undone and were given our gears like gators and spikes to traverse the snowy terrain. Also, a Bhutia dog accompanied us on the trek from start to finish. He was aptly named Pablo as he loved going crazy in pure white snow 😂. The person in charge of our motely group was a trained personal from the Indiahikes, dealing with all our antics very patiently. We were joined by another jovial fellow from the org’s side, who dropped random tid bits and gave us history lessons along the way.
We started our trek with a steep incline, a promise of what was to come, shedding a layer because of the intensity of the sun even though it had rained a while back. We passed a few locals on the way, people who lived in shepherd huts on the way and women who were coming down with stacks of chopped wood on their head.
We came into a clearing soon, with a covered, disused well in the middle and a network of trees on one side. As part of a little exercise, we were told to pick up any tree, hug it and tell them one of our secrets. It is said, that these trees our connected through a network of roots running underground, which takes your secret to every tree in the forest and they keeps it among themselves, protecting it. That was something- Peaceful? Liberating? Anyway, you will find lichens on this altitude which are pretty fascinating and are a proof of the highly purified air quality.
Climbing just a little further, we were greeted with the sight of snow peppered in our way and soon great swathes of it covered the ground. I was obviously apprehensive of speaking at first but we soon fell into an easy banter, talking about a vast variety of topics with anyone who kept pace with the other person, waiting for our comrades and snapping each others pictures whenever the angle was good.
We halted for the night at the Gui camp site (9321 feet). The elation after finally reaching the camp site was incomparable! The tents were already put up and we did a few warm up exercises and quickly settled in our tents (with a partner ofc) with the promise of fresh lunch and hot water being prepared. I’ve to say, the food on all the days was absolutely delicious, giving the comfort of a home cooked meal under the vast skies, always accompanied with a dessert, with Shahi Tukda on one day which felt like a delicacy straight from the lanes of Chandni Chowk. We also did a group activity which tested our drawing and navigation skills and even had an impromptu concert in the dinner tent.
Coming to the night, since it had been majorly cloudy the whole day, the skies were finally clearing up a bit and we were greeted with the sight of a gradually rolling blanket of stars as more and more came into view. I finally learnt how to photograph a night sky to capture all the stars in their their dazzling glory (thanks Vishal).
When the time for sleep came, suddenly Pablo started barking, making us scared of the presence of a snow leopard or another animal amidst us, as one of our leaders told us, somberly, making it difficult to discern if he was being serious or just pulling our legs. We zipped ourselves in our tent and just tried to sleep, hoping for the best.
Trek: Day 2
After a night of fitful sleep, we woke up to the rising sun on one side and the setting moon on the other and were ready to embark on the second leg of our trek. After segregating whatever bit of rubbish everyone had collected in different piles, as part of the green trails initiative by Indiahikes, we made our way to the Gui lake, which was on our way to the second camp site. We had a small history- mythology lesson regarding the peaks opposite to us which was quite interesting and a small group photo shoot, trying to coordinate our jumping in the background of the peaks.
After rounding a curve, we were met with a small hill, the type where as kids you might have rolled down from and the next sight literally caught my breath! The Gui lake was frozen and looked like an absolute beauty. We walked with renewed vigor towards it and waited on the sidelines, debating whether to step on it or not. After getting the go ahead from our leaders, we cautiously made our way over it, tentatively walking over it and ultimately faux ice skating over it and playing soccer with a random object, passing it amongst ourselves. With time, we gained more confidence and had a gala time with some of us being pulled by the leaders over the ice.
Some of us climbed the hill to take a look at the view and as I took a picture on my phone, my phone started buzzing with a string of notifications. Network was back! Ok so I’m not obsessed with social media or anything but I hadn’t updated my parents in over 12-15 hours and they had obviously called someone from Indiahikes to know why I wasn’t picking up my phone 🙊. I snapped my snapchat buddies cause streaks 😭. The only thing I’m guilty of here is wanting to remain in touch with my friends 😤. 4 of us were on top and had to be repeatedly called down as everyone else had picked up their stuff and were already moving ahead.
On the way, I captured some pretty icicles even though there was no snow here and the terrain was a rocky steep incline. After making another rest at a spot, we finally reached the Chilpada camp site (10500 ft.)!
We again had a small stretching round but to settle down after that, we first had to pitch our own tents which obviously became a competition. Let me start off by saying I did help in erecting the tents but I helped more by distributing a homemade dry fruit mix and besan laddoos to keep the spirits of team alive and soaring 😏😌😇.
After a hearty lunch and some chilling with the view and the network (😭), we had another group activity where we all had to jump over an outstretched rope, a bit above ground. The catch- we all had to hold our hands while crossing to the other side till the last person made it. After many tries and nearly giving up, we finally figured it out! Hallelujah!
After that, to prepare for the final leg off our journey to our destination, which would take us through a snowy landscape, we learnt how to put on our gators and spikes and climbed a small hill, with one of our leaders carrying the chai and chilli potato in our tiffins. WHAT A MAJESTIC SIGHT! 🤩 If the view from this level was this beautiful, I couldn’t help but think about how the view from the top will be. We settled down on rocky outcroppings, in complete silence, avoiding the heavy snow covering most of the ground, with our hot cups of ginger chai (my coffeeholic ass has never drank so much chai as I drank on this trip). I was lucky enough for Pablo to choose me and sit me huhu 😌. It was absolutely serene!
I’M SUPER EXCITED TO TELL YA’LL ABOUT MY NIGHT!
As I made my way to dinner, snow was already falling lightly. We had a hearty dinner and were informed we’ll be starting off our trek at 5:30 AM. GETTING UP AT FREAKING 4:30 IN THE MORNING! I prepared for another fitful night since we’d been legit threatened regarding the importance of time and sticking to the plan. I am the type of person who says she’s stuck in jam and just reaching when she hasn’t even gotten out of the house so I was obviously a bit scared 🙊.
After tossing and turning a bit and finally catching some blissful minutes of sleep, I, well we all were I’m guessing, was woken up by something hitting our tent, gaining speed. Turns out it was a legit full blown snowstorm, weighing down our tents with the snow gathering on top, further cooling our tents. As one of the leaders went around shaking the tents, to dispel the snow, I opened my tent just a bit and took a handful of the white soft snow in my hand 🥺. It was so beautiful. My first snowfall with the chill running bone deep with me trying to fool my brain into thinking it wasn’t that cold even so shut up and stop making me feel so cold 😭. Sleep obviously eluded me after that and soon, it was time to get ready for the final leg of our trek.
Trek: Day 3
After a quick breakfast, we put on all our gears, including the gators, spikes, switching on our torches, pulling out 2 trekking poles and pulling on our rain ponchos, covering our bags. The energy was palpable as we started off around 5:45 AM, in complete darkness, with Pablo obviously leading our motely crew. We walked in a single line, stamping our feet from time to time to dispel the snow which got stuck in our spikes. My torch stopped working in between because of the snow but thankfully, someone lent me their torch which came affixed with a trekking pole (Thanks Shreshtha 😭).
Under the cover of darkness, with snow blowing in our faces, getting stuck in my hair and legit freezing them like a stick, we made our way, careful to follow the steps of the person in front of us to avoid patches where the snow was too deep (reaching my knees and sometimes above it if I was unlucky to let my feet go awry! I’m 5’4″.5, and yes that half inch matters to me 😤).
Even though it was magical to see the wide expanse of snow but at same moment, I couldn’t stop empathizing with all the scantily dressed Bollywood actresses, dancing in the snow. And also, feeling like lying down right there in the snow, not moving anymore cause apparently, WE HAD LOST THE TRAIL BECAUSE OF ALL THE SNOW!
Due to the depth of the snow, we had to stop at the last point before reaching Dayara Top. We were in/around the meadows, where the grass was covered by pristine white snow and there was no sign of visible flora and fauna. It was definitely a bummer, but eh, we’d made it that far and so close to our destination. But the journey is what counts which was fantastic to say the least.
Even though we were supposed to camp another night, we’d to make our way down to the base camp due to the deteriorating weather conditions. On the way back, we went on a leisurely pace, stopping often to click pictures as we caught some of the most beautiful sights; slow motion snow fall, which was as soft as cotton candy, as it covered the trees and shrubs, which made for an absolutely breathtaking photogenic view, beautiful icicles and we also made terrible snow angels 😂.
Gradually, with the change in altitude, the weather and the terrain also changed, as we traced back our path. The spikes and gators came off first, then the ponchos and then ultimately the jackets. A pair lost their way coming back down but were soon found 😂.
As we reached the guest house, I deposited my rented gear and went for a quick hot bath. Lets not talk about the number of days since I hadn’t taken a bath 😌. We had a hearty dinner and all of us shared our experience and got a MAGNET as a souvenir 🤩. I adore magnets ok. They are the best souvenirs from a place you visit I believe!
Day 4
The next day, after a good breakfast, with a heavy heart, I bid adieu to the place, our leaders and of course, PABLO!!
It was an experience which I would cherish forever and even if we trekkers never talk to each other ever again, it will still be something which we shared together, bringing out the best of humanity as we shared our food, followed the girl code (you never let a women go to the bathroom alone as a woman yourself 😤), helped each other, shared stories and chai, bitched together and just chilled 🥺 and I’ll be sure to remember their faces and the various quirks of them.
Tips
- To and fro from Raithal is not covered in the cost of Indiahikes organised trek.
- You’ll have to bring your own tiffin and mugs. There is a 3 bowl system to wash utensils.
- The toilets are inside a tent and typically Indian style, with 2 planks on either side. After conducting your biz, you sprinkle some sawdust over it and be done.
- Don’t wear thermal under shirts and leggings on the climb. I only wore my legging for the 3rd day of the trek.
- Keep EXTRA SOCKS.
- If you go with Indiahikes, there will be mules which will carry your bags which has a limit.
- All the equipment can be rented.
Important people on this trek- Aditya and Parvesh with one of them always leading and one bringing the rear. Manish was the cook and he made some delicious stuff!
I bid you adieu dear readers, hoping you experience something so wholesome and adventurous like this at least once in your life.
Sincerely,
Another stranger
Kaleidoscopic Nerdy 
So nice to hear about your trek! Also you went with strangers, wow. I would not do that lmao. The scenery is absolutely beautiful. The photos 😍 I’m sure it was a better sight in person.
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